I met him once. he was very gracious to an awkward and nerdy teenager! I love Star Trek, especially the original series.

According to the article, he was a war hero too: <snip>"At 19, James escaped the turmoil at home by joining the Canadian army, becoming a lieutenant in artillery. He was among the Canadian forces that landed on Juno Beach on D-Day. "The sea was rough," he recalled. "We were more afraid of drowning than the Germans."

The Canadians crossed a minefield laid for tanks; the soldiers weren't heavy enough to detonate the bombs. At 11:30 that night, he was machine-gunned, taking six hits: one that took off his middle right finger (he managed to hide the missing finger on screen), four in his leg and one in the chest. Fortunately the chest bullet was stopped by his silver cigarette case"more...http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/O/OBIT_DOOHAN?SITE...

Rest in peace Mr Doohan! Aw MAN, this totally fucking BLOWS. But ya know, and if I've said this once, I've said it 9 billion times, PLEASE, celebrate LIFE and NOT DEATH! Look at the LEGACY this man has! I would seriously trade mine for his in a HEARTBEAT. Like the fellow dearly departed Gene Rodenberry & Deforest Kelly, he will be missed, AND NOT FORGOTTEN! My god man (Kirk voice!), these folks, ALL OF THEM, especially Roddenberry, were PROPHETS! They paved the way to SO many advancements. 40 years ago, look at JUST the 1st season of Star Trek, and look at the shit they thought of, and we now have today:

1. Communicator (now: cell phones!)

2. Transporters (ok, so it's only been done on the CELLULAR LEVEL, BUT HEY, IT HAS BEEN DONE!)

4. The Hypo: Instead of getting a vaccine shot or whatever, via a NEEDLE (ICK! FUCK THAT! Sorry to curse, but COME ON!) guess what has been developed in the UK?! You guessed it: {Please note that this may not be the best invention since it only makes it easier for the scumbags drug companies to get their mercury-laced vaccines to you eaiser...ugh!) And if you don't believe me, go to this link:http://www.popsci.com/popsci/medicine/article/0,20967,1...

5. The Internet. (Not so much in the 1st season, BUT, more so in ST: TNG. Remember Data searching for stuff?! On this huge data-base--pun intended!--right?! Well! Sound familiar!?)

6. Race relations. Uh, any other show(s) in the 1960's have a BLACK WOMAN on board?! DIDN'T THINK SO! And what about that SULU! Damn yellow commie! And that least to the Ruskie, what about that COMMIE PINKO Checkov! Ok, and what about that Scott too while we are at it! HELLO! And they got that HICK Southerner Doc. McCoy! AND THIS FREAK ALIEN SPOCK! HOLY CRAP DUDE! DIVERSITY! HELP!!!!!!!And meanwhile, around the same time, you've got white folks playing American Indians (I am one, so I CAN SAY IT! To HELL with this STUPID kookoo way of refering to us as NATIVE AMERICAN! PLEASE discard that term, ok!)

And that's just what I can think of off the top of my head!

I now will have a scotch in honor of Mr. Scott! And to ALL of you fine folks who have worked with the Star Trek series movies/TV show, who have made today's reality THAT much BETTER with your POSITIVE vision of the future, CHEERS TO YA! AND PLEASE KEEP UP THE DAMN FINE WORK! You will all not be forgotten!

Lu Cifer, can I get a request for "NOT FORGOTTEN" by Siouxsie & The Banshees!

6. Race relations! Uh, any other show(s) in the 1960's have a BLACK WOMAN on board?! DIDN'T THINK SO! And what about that SULU! Damn yellow commie! And that least to the Ruskie, what about that COMMIE PINKO Checkov! Ok, and what about that Scott too while we are at it! HELLO! And they got that HICK Southerner Doc. McCoy! AND THIS FREAK ALIEN SPOCK! HOLY CRAP DUDE! DIVERSITY! HELP!!!!!!!And meanwhile, around the same time, you've got white folks playing American Indians (I am one, so I CAN SAY IT! To HELL with this STUPID kookoo way of refering to us as NATIVE AMERICAN! PLEASE discard that term, ok!)

One scene in the documentary still makes me a little teary, and very few movies can do that to me. Doohan receives a fan letter from a woman who says she's considering ending it all. He writes back (maybe he calls her, I forget exactly) and says I'm going to be at a convention near you in a few weeks, let's meet. They meet and talk, and afterwards Doohan says, I'm going to be at a convention at this other place next month, let's meet there. This goes on for over a year, with Doohan inviting this woman to meet him at convention after convention, and he is able to convince her to keep going.

Not everyone would do that for a stranger. The galaxy is just a little colder today.

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